Youth magazine | A journey by Jeni Morris

Right from WrongThere are two roads in life. You can either take the right road or the wrong road. Taking the wrong road can be caused by many things, such as lack of money, dysfunctional family etc. when taking this path there are many consequences that can lead to imprisonment of even death. On the other hand the right path can lead to a whole di!erent world of opportunity and rewards. By going into education or training can help you to get a job which can lead to better wellbeing. Make the right choices in order to get the best out of life.

by Taijah Watson

AcknowlegementsSpecial thanks to Immediate Theatre and to Florence Kroll Assistant Director of Young Hackney, for their encouragement and help in making this project possible.Designer: Adam Di ChiaraPrinted by : www.metoprint.com

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Contents 4 Fitness & health

5 Fitness for Young People

6 Hackney youth crime in the

spotlight

8 Meet the Crew

10 Young black and successful

11 Street style in hackney

12 Services for young people in

hackney

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What Do You Think Of Sportfacilities In Hackney?

I think that there are good f acilities. The quality of sport facilities in schools in Hackney have improved with bigger spaces and more clubs providing sport (e.g. Our Lady’s, Cardinal Pole, Urstwick).

Do You BelieveThat Young People GetEnough Sport?

No I don’t believe that young people get enough sport, this is clear because in school when they do a "tness test in the beginning of the year, at the end of the year the "tness levels have not improved much.

Do You Think That Magazines Display The Wrong Image To Young People?

Sometimes, especially with body image, girls are forced to want to be like models in the magazine. The models sometimes display the image that you have to be skinny.Boys also feel the need to be muscular and male models display that.

How Do You Think ThatHackney Can ImproveSport Facilities?

I think that the sport facilities are good quality in Hackney, however, I think there should be more gyms for under 18’s in leisure centres as well as outdoor spaces.

Health & Fitness Interview with Jennifer Lopes, PE Teacher at Our Lady’s Convent School

Why should young people be interested

in Fitness and what would be the bene!ts of them? I think that young people should be interested in !tness because they have to learn that their body is their personal temple and they must live in that body for many more decades. A person has to live their life and it’s best for the person to be happy with what they have.

If people are do not know and or are not interested in !tness this may lead to bad habits. An example is over eating which leads to obesity, which can later lead to many di"erent issues such as diabetes and heart disease. Another bad habit is starvation which leads to being underweight and an eating disorder such as anorexia. If a person has knowledge on health and !tness they will understand that your body needs a clean and moderated diet that is able to

Focus on Young People

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provide the body with vitamins and minerals and glucose that causes the body to respire and is able to do all the basic everyday activities.

By being active such as running or swimming the body is able to help people stay happier and more con!dent because exercise releases chemicals such as endorphins and serotonins. Research shows that doing 2-3 activities in a week has a massive input to the mind. It has proven to help people to be less stressed and more positive too.

If the younger members of society

knew all these facts and had knowledge and interest in this subject our community would be more positive and much healthier both physically and mentally.

What do you think about the sport facilities in Hackney?

I think that the facilities in Hackney are not the best, however, I think this is because not many people have such a large interest in sport and a believe that exercise is not important . This is because Hackney is in the 1% most deprived areas of London - if not the country.

What do you think about the body image that is portrayed by the magazines?

People in the world have many issues with the portrayal of body image. I think that the body image is now improving and is no longer as bad as it used to be with fashion runways being !lled with walking skeletons. I think that the fashion world is slowly taking into consideration how such high fashion has such a huge impact on the way teenagers begin to view themselves. A huge corporation that is commonly used as an example is Victoria’s Secret and their worldwide known Fashion Show. There is common confusion and arguments on the social networks such as Twitter about how this has an impact. Common messages that are repeated are ‘Time to starve myself again’ or ‘I am so fat and useless’ and other things

along those lines. The truth, however, is that Victoria’s Secret models work out on an everyday basic and try to eat organic and high quality food sources to be able to be !t. They too feel the pressure of having that perfect body as they can lose their job if they look unhealthy by gaining weight and losing the toned and healthy ‘look’.

I think that the body image in the media is improving to portray a healthy lifestyle with a toned and healthy body that everyone should be encouraged to reach. However, there are still some negative in#uences in society with the use of large billboards and magazines - and people simply forget about the setup of lights and the hair and make-up. People simply forget about the use of computer programs like Photoshop which !xes blemishes or any imperfections that the person may have.

Focus on Young PeopleInterview with Konstancja Szwed, 15 years old Work Experience Student at Immediate Theatre

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When you think of Hackney,what comes to mind?

For someone who doesn’t live in Hackney, it’s easy for them to assume that we’re only about guns and violence. “Oh, this person died”; “This person got shot” and “This person robbed that person”. Where do they get this perception of the borough from? The media.

As someone who is born and breed in the borough, lived it and walked the streets, you could say that I know a thing or two about Hackney. I de!nitely know that what the mass media assume about the borough is certainly not what we are. As a borough you could say were united - when ‘push comes to shove’. Going places like Hackney Central, Dalston and Stoke Newington is a great example of this; everybody knows everyone.

On 6th August 2011, disturbances erupted across London. Many areas and boroughs were a"ected by the disruption caused – one of them being Hackney. Watching the news during this period I clearly remember seeing this one clip of Mare Street where the riots were taking place being replayed on the news channels over and over again. One age group that was heavily blamed for the

crisis was 16 – 25 year olds. Considering that, as the CCTV footage shows, there were many other age groups around; however, the young ones were blamed.

Youth crime in Hackney is one of the main things we are stereotyped for. Some say that Hackney has one of the highest youth crime rates in the whole city which is not entirely true. According to o$cial statistics, in Hackney the number of young people (10-17 years old) going through the Justice System has been slowly falling since 2008:

Hackney—Youth Crime in the SpotlightBy Shekeila Scarlett

Table 1: Total number of court disposals 2008-20122008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

633 541 478 433

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The decrease can be credited to the fall in !rst time entrants to the system during this period which is displayed in the table below:

Looking at Youth Crime in more depth, the statistics for gun, knife and serious youth violence are slowly but surely decreasing. Below are the tables for the three categories over the past four years:

Overall, the youth crime rate in Hackney isn’t as bad as everybody thinks. Yes, there may be a few more incidents than we would like, but within time it will get better. With people like Florence Kroll heading our Youth Services and youth organisations like Immediate Theatre, Young Hackney and Youth Skills Network, Hackney will once and for all banish the negative stereotypes!

Table 2: First time entrants 2008- 20122008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

358 244 176 172

Table 3: Knife Crime Count2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

547

509

539

506

Table 5: Gun Crime Count2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

141

182

104

78

Table 4: Serious Youth Crime Count2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

582

509

539

506

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CrewMeet the

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WoodberryDowns Estate drama group.

Immediate Theatre

run youth projects

throughout Hackney.

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Femi Awoyemi is the 23 year old, final year Accountingand Finance Student, who is the new Managing Director

of Young, Black and Successful CIC (YBS)

Young Black and Successful

Young, Black and Successful (YBS) is a social enterprise which seeks to improve the quality of life for African and Caribbean young people; socially, economically and culturally. YBS goes

about achieving this through various means, such as workshops, training, mentoring, university tours and entertainment events. The organisation is run and managed by a group of young people who volunteer their time to make the vision of YBS a reality; to be a driving force behind young Africans and Caribbeans achieving their goals and aspirations.

Femi writes:

I got involved with YBS thanks to a young man called Richard Kuti, during my time at London South Bank University in 2009. I was very much like many other undergrads who believe that just going to a university and working hard to eventually leave with a 1st or 2.1 class honours would be su#cient enough to enter the job market and get their dream job right away. WRONG! When I met Richard, he inspired me and my eyes were completely open.

At the time Richard, was on the Greater London Authority Advisory Board to engage BME’s to be more entrepreneurial. He also started up the Entrepreneurial Society at London South Bank University, which was also one of the largest societies during his time there and was Project leader for a youth employment charity called Elevation Networks. He has been head-hunted by many "rms due to his remarkable work rate and pro-activity. I also forgot to mention that he did a 6 month internship at Goldman Sachs. I think you

may start to get the picture of why I was so inspired by this guy, especially as he was only one year older than me, which made me think, in all my years on this planet, what do I have to show for it or what have I accomplished thus far? I have always felt that I had more to give and I was very passionate about young people also, so from the day I met Richard, I told him ‘If you are doing anything, please involve me. I am here to serve’. Plain and simple. When I mention serve, I don’t mean like a waiter or in that context but what I meant was that I was ready and willing to do anything to start making an impact.

From that day on I was involved with YBS. YBS had their "rst event at London South Bank University, which was where YBS all started. Whilst at London South Bank Richard felt that there was no type of events to inspire African and Caribbean students so he approached the African and Caribbean Society President (Dami Babalola). Richard decided to call the event the Young, Black and Successful Forum. On the night 40 students volunteered to help out, the atmosphere was buzzing and I even found my "rst mentor; a young accountant who was working for Price Water House Coopers at the time called Lanre Sulola

It began with one young man. It began with a vision. It began with a leader. He is the reason why Young, Black and Successful CIC (YBS) exists today and he has started up an organisation with is on track to inspire a generation. When you hear Young, Black and Successful, what springs to mind? Young black people making it into the City? Young men who do Youth Work in the community? People of Caribbean and African heritage who have loads of money? These are just some of the perceptions which may have $own through your head upon hearing those four words ‘Young’ ‘Black’ ‘And’ ‘Successful’

www.facebook.com/YoungBlackandSuccessful

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Rastafarian hat, black sun glasses from m&s, brown leather jacket vintage. Tafari 29

Woolly hat from accessorize, orange and black scarf from next, navy blue parker jacket from littlewoods, vintage turquoise bag, #oral dress river island, watch from zara. Lilly, 20

Chestnut brown jacket, beyond retro, chequered trousers brick lane, brown bag zara. Zoe, 22

What are you wearing? Red and black snapback from new era, red chinos from topshop, black bomber jacket from uniqlo, black head phones HMV , Weston, 19

Red winter jacket lily whites, blue jeggings Matalan, earrings new look. Val 24

Street Style

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Youth Clubs

Hoxton HallAddress: 130 Hoxton Street, London, N1 6SH / Tel: 0207 684 0060 / Web: www.hoxtonhall.co.uk

Blue Hut (Skyway)Address: 49 Provost Street, Hackney, London, N1 7NZ / Tel: 020 7729 6970 / 020 7490 8516 / Email: info@skyway.uk.com / Web: http://www.skyway.uk.com/the-blue-hut/

Concorde centreAddress: Kingsmead Way, Homerton, Hackney, E9 5PP / Tel: 020 8533 3703 / Email: N/A / Web: www.hmp.org.uk

Hackney QuestAddress: 1 Poole Road, London, E9 7AE / Tel: 020 8533 5480Web: www.hackneyquest.org.uk

Parkside youth clubAddress: Woodberry Grove, Hackney, N4 1 / Tel: 020 8356 7404 / Email: info@hackney.gov.uk

Shoreditch Youth FCAddress: Flat 12 Samuel Court, Shoreditch, Hoxton, De beauvoir, Dalston, N1 6EQ / Tel: 07983359121 / Email: shoreboys@live.co.uk

Organisations–Volunteering

Abbey Park Cemetery TrustAddress: The South Lodge, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington High Street, N16 0LN / Tel: 0207 275 7557 / Email: abney-park@geoz.poptel.org.uk / Web: www.abney-park.org.uk

British Youth CouncilAddress: Silbury St, Hackney, Greater London N1 7, UK / Tel: 0207 250 8374 /Email: keith.morgan@byc.org.uk / Web: www.byc.org.uk

Groundwork East LondonAddress: 6 Lower Clapton Road, Clapton, E5 0PD / Tel: 02089851755 / Email: Natalie.Skerritt@groundwork.org.uk /Web: www.groundwork.org.uk

Workshops

Hackney Bike WorkshopAddress: c/o the Kings Centre, Frampton Park Baptist Church, Frampton Park Road, London E9 7PQ, Homerton, E9 7PQ / Tel: 07940 121 513 / Email: hackneybikeworkshop@gmail.com / Web: http://hackneybikeworkshop.com/

Impact Youth Academy Address: The Lime Door, Unit 9 Plough Yard, London, Shoreditch, EC2A 3LP / Tel: 07500115206 / Email: ste!reeman@hotmail.co.uk / Web: www.impactdance.co.uk/youth

Organisations –sports

Capital Girls LeagueAddress: London Marathon Playing Fields, Chase Lodge Playing Fields, Page Street, NW7 / Web: www.capitalgirlsleague.com

Academy of Sports East LondonAddress: 5 Hampstead Walk, Parnell Rd, Bow, London, E3 2JN / Tel: 07984

495 310 / Email: info@theacademyofsporteastlondon.co.uk / Web: www.theacademy ofsporteastlondon.co.uk

Hitz RugbyAddress: Venues Hackney / Tel: 07825 868 761 / Email: maxmalkin@saracens.net / Web: http://www.hitzrugby.com/hackney/

Drake Music ProjectAddress: 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA / Tel: 020 8692 9000 / Email: info@drakemusicproject.org / Web: www.drakemusicproject.org

Urban Voice MusicWeb: www.ukurbanvoice.com

Organisations –colleges

Access to MusicBSix / Brooke HouseWeb: www.bsix.ac.uk / www.accesstomusic.co.uk

6Form CollegeDV8Web: www.dv8training.com

Training Hackney CommunityWeb: www.tcch.ac.uk

Hackney University Technical CollegeWeb: http://hackneyutc.co.uk/(UTC)

Point Blank Music CollegeWeb: www.pointblanklearning.com

For more info

go to www.younghackney.com

Services for young people in Hackney

February 2013 Issue 001